Comm Lathe Pro out now!

I challenged myself for a portfolio piece do make a complete simple “simulation” in less than 30 days. This is what I came up with in about 23 days. I modeled and textured all the items from scratch and created all GUI’s (interfaces) as well. The physics in the turning lathe is pretty heavy with 1500+ turning rigidbodies that can be “cut off” but I wrote a optimizer that controls them all smoothly as they are needed. This should enable smooth play on just about any computer made in the last 10 years. Still lots to do to completely polish it but I am very busy now with redoing D Series for the steam release. I thought I would package it up with a few other games and let everybody get a small glimpse of the old RC Racing “hay days”. Get it Here

Background to a “Comm Lathe”

Back in the 1980-90’s Radio Controlled Racing was different than it is nowadays. The Technology level was not on par with today and the cars required much more maintenance to keep them running at their peak levels. The brushed motor was the main staple in the performance of the car and needed to be “rebuilt” about every 3-5 runs. Rebuilding the electric motor would keep it running at full potenial against the other drivers doing the same thing to their motors. Thus, mini lathes were born to “true up” the running surface of the spinning armature inside the motor. Turning the armature and replacing the “brushes” would return the motor back to it’s optimal performance. This was a tedious and “attention to detail” kind of thing… But when done right, the reward would show itself on those long straightaways heading to the podium. 😉

This interactive simulation is an attempt to explore the art of maintaining and tuning an “old school” brushed electric motor. In the demo you are a newly hired “motor guy” for a professional traveling RC race team and have to preform the tedious tasks of getting the teams motors ready for the races. So make sure to read the instructions, take your time and have some fun reliving the “good old days” of pit racing.

I hope you enjoy the Pro Comm Lathe simulator as much as I did making it. It was really fun digging through all of my old stuff and remembering all the great people I got to meet and fun places I got to experience along the way. If you do enjoy it…. maybe consider purchasing a T-shirt or other products that you can view in the devotid web store. I thank you very much for checking out the devotid Comm Lathe Pro Simulation and feel free to check out other devotid Games and Simulations at www.devotid.com